


Counting Stars

by WeirdyMcWeirderton



Series: Alex Series [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 01:52:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1880652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeirdyMcWeirderton/pseuds/WeirdyMcWeirderton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The long overdo sequel of Rebel Beat. Alex finds out some information about her past that makes her question everything she's ever known and goes on a hunt to find the truth. But in doing so, the people SHIELD tried to protect her from find her and the Avengers have to find her before it's too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I’ve had quite a few people tell me that they really wanted a sequel to my Avenger story, “Rebel Beat”, so here is the beginning of it. It takes place about nine months after Rebel Beat. If you haven’t read Rebel Beat you will have to read that first in order to understand this one. This chapter is kind of short but I wanted to get the basis of the story in motion before writing any more of it. So, without further ado, enjoy! 

Alex walks up to her house; she had been out in the woods exploring which Vern didn’t like but was never able to stop her from doing so. She notices the front door open slightly and she furrows her eyebrows and looks around her. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, Alexandra slowly pushes the door open and sneaks inside the house. She looks around and sees broken objects strewn across the floor. She carefully walks around them and makes her way towards the living room where she freezes, her eyes open. Lying in the middle of the room lying in a pool of blood was Vern. Alex shakes her head, not being able to say anything due to shock. She looks around but doesn’t see anyone and, making up her mind, the ten-year old runs upstairs to her room where she shoves some clothes and items into her backpack. She runs down the stairs, stopping at the bottom and looking into the living room, her eyes welling up. Before she breaks down, Alex runs out of the house and into the woods.

AVENGERS

Alex lies in her bed staring at the ceiling above her, sighing. She hadn’t been sleeping well the past few nights, her sleep being interrupted numerous times by nightmares of when she was a child. She turns her head and looks at her alarm clock. It reads 5:07. Sighing once again, Alex climbs out of bed and begins to get dressed, knowing she won’t be able to go back to sleep. Walking out of her room, Alex grabs her bow and arrows and makes her way to the SHIELD garage.   
“Hey Don,” Alex greets the middle aged man in the glass encased cubicle. The brown-haired man looks up and gives Alex a smile.  
“You’re up early,” he replies, already moving back to grab the keys to the Camaro.   
“Couldn’t sleep,” Alex replies, sending Don a smile as she accepts the keys through the window.   
“Going anywhere special?” Don asks, already knowing the answer. Alex only ever really went one place anymore.  
“Just Avenger Tower,” Alex replies, sending Don another smile before walking to the car. The Avengers had all moved in to the tower, excluding Thor who lived on Asgard, and had their own floors for their living spaces. The bottom floors included an archery and gun range, lab for Banner, and a lab for Tony, among other things. It was here that Alex would visit most of the time. 

AVENGERS

Alex pulls the arrow in her bow back and closes her eyes, taking a couple deep breaths, letting it go. When she hears the thud, she opens her eyes and sees she has hit the bull’s-eye on the target. JARVIS had let her in and she had went directly to the archery room her dad had put in a while ago, not wanting to wake anybody up. She wasn’t living with her parents but she came over a lot to visit and train with them. Unknowingly to Coulson, Natasha had been training her to use guns; she had said she’d rather Alex know how to use them in case she ever needed to. She grabs another bow and, without looking, shoots it at another target on her left. Alex looks over at it and sees she hasn’t hit the bull’s-eye but has hit the circle around it.  
“You’re getting better at that,” a voice behind her says and Alex cringes inwardly for not hearing anyone walk in the room. Alex looks behind her and sees Clint Barton leaning up against the wall watching her. At least it wasn’t so bad; it was a trained assassin that got the drop on her and not someone normal. Alex shrugs.   
“I still can’t hit the bull’s-eye unless I look at it first.”  
“It’ll happen. Just keep working on it,” Clint replies, pushing off the wall and walking over to his daughter. He looks down at her, checking her over, seeing the dark circles under eyes and the exhausted look on her face. “It’d help if you were sleeping.”  
“I am sleeping,” Alex argues, looking over at her dad earning an eyebrow raise.  
“That’s not what Johnny says,” Clint replies, resting his forearms on the half wall in front of them and looking at the targets in the room. Alex makes a face.  
“Johnny’s a moron,” she says, looking away from Clint. Clint snorts and looks over at Alex.   
“Seriously, though. Nat and I have noticed too.” Alex sighs and looks over at him, knowing he’s not going to let it go.   
“They’re just nightmares. They’ll go away soon,” Alex says nonchalantly, shrugging it off. Clint studies her a moment.  
“You want to talk about it?” he asks, watching her reaction. Alex shrugs.  
“Nah, I’m good,” she replies, making sure not to look at her dad. Clint nods his head.  
“Well, if you do, we’re here,” he replies, including Romanoff in the comment. Alex nods her head in understanding. Clint stands up straighter. “You eat?”  
“No,” Alex replies, shaking her head and looking over at Clint.  
“Good, because I’m starving and I think Banner’s making breakfast,” Clint replies, sending Alex a smile and leaving the room. Alex smiles back and sets her bow down, following after her dad.

AVENGERS

“Hey Steve?” Alex asks after swallowing her eggs. Steve looks up at Alexandra sitting across from him.  
“Hm?”  
“Can I interview you? We have to interview a war veteran for English and write an essay. And then I can use it for my history class too,” Alex replies, taking another bite of her breakfast.   
“Sure,” Steve says, nodding his head, then, he furrows his eyebrows and looks over at her. “How can you use the same essay for two different classes?”   
“Well, my history essay has to be about World War II and you were in that war so…” Alex answers, finishing up the last bit of her breakfast.   
“Your teachers are going to let you turn in the same essay?” Bruce asks, raising an eyebrow. Alex smiles proudly at him.  
“Well, my history teacher said if I could interview a veteran who was in World War Ii then she didn’t care,” Alex says, her eyes twinkling. Tony chuckles to himself, watching Alex.  
“Anything to get out of doing more work huh?” he asks knowingly, a smirk appearing on his face.  
“Just so you know, both papers only count once then,” Natasha points out, looking directly at her daughter. Alex makes a face. The three of them had went with Clint’s strategy and for every A Alex got on her papers, tests, etc. it earned her a half hour of training time. She could use that accumulated training time towards Clint training her on the bow and arrow or Natasha with shooting. The better Alexandra got with shooting her bow and arrow without looking, the more of her time she used towards shooting guns with Natasha.   
“Fine,” Alex says, sighing, knowing her mom had a point.

AVENGERS

Alex walks into SHIELD, having spent the better part of the morning and afternoon at the Avengers Tower. She had trained with Clint for a while and with Natasha for the other part, finishing up with interviewing Steve. She sees a wall of pictures and smiles. SHIELD had set up the wall to honor the Agents killed in the field; they must’ve finally finished it. She walks over to it and begins looking at all the pictures. Her eyes roam over them and a particular picture catches her eye and she quickly looks back at it, her eyes wide and her breath quickening. Her eyes dart to the name below the picture: Vern Hessling. She feels a hand touch her shoulder and she knocks it off, quickly torqueing it to a chicken wing hold.  
“Hey, hey, hey. It’s me,” Johnny says, taken off-guard by the sudden attack from his partner. Alex instantly lets go and takes a step back. Johnny rubs his arm and looks over at her. “You all right?”  
Johnny keeps his eyes on her, studying her. He knew she hadn’t been sleeping well, and he figured it had something to do with the nightmares she’d been having. He was starting to get worried and he even went so far as to talk to Clint Barton about it.   
“I’m fine,” Alex says, glancing at the picture of Vern before looking back at johnny. “Sorry, I was blanking out and you took me by surprise.”  
“Its fine,” Johnny says, looking at the wall. He looks back at Alex. “You sure you’re fine? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”  
Alex sighs and looks back at the picture of Vern. Johnny looks over at the picture as well. The guy was in his mid-thirties with blonde hair and blue eyes and a strong jaw bone and what seemed to be muscular arms. Johnny raises an eyebrow and looks at Alex out of the corner of his eye.  
“Someone you know?” he asks, although he doubted it; the date on the wall would put his death when Alex was ten. Johnny looks over at Alex, seeing her force a swallow and take a deep breath before saying anything.  
“That’s the guy I was with until SHIELD took me in.”


	2. Chapter 2

FLASHBACK:  
Vern is cleaning up the living room, putting things back where they belong and sweeping the floor. Alex had wanted to have a picnic, which meant she had insisted on building a fort first. Of course, she took off into the woods before she had to clean it up which mean he was stuck with the cleaning. There is a knock on the door and Vern freezes, his head whipping to the front door. They were out in the middle of nowhere; he home-schooled Alex, so no one knew they were here. Vern stands still but there is another knock on the door and he quietly puts the broom down. He moves to the cabinet in the room and opens the door, pulling out a hidden drawer. He grabs the gun inside it and walks to the front door, peering outside and seeing two women in their early twenties. Not trusting anyone, Vern keeps the gun in his hand, but hides it behind his back as he opens the door.  
“Can I help you?” he asks, eyeing the two young women. They give him a smile and the brunette speaks up.  
“Hi, we’re sorry to bother you but we were hiking in the woods and we’ve seemed to have gotten lost. Is there any way you could point us in the right direction?” she says, giving Vern a sheepish smile. Vern casually glances around the clearing before shifting his eyes back to the two girls in front of him.   
“Head in that direction,” Vern says, nodding his head to the right, “Keep walking until you get to a big rock formation and make a left. You’ll run right into the path and then just go right.”  
“Thank you so much,” the brunette says, sending him a relieved smile. The two girls turn around and walk away, heading in the direction he told them to go. Vern narrows his eyes at them before closing the door; in all of the ten years they lived here, he never once had hikers get lost. In fact, no one hiked around here. Vern places his gun on the table next to him and pulls out his cell phone, dialing a number and putting it to his ear.  
“Hey, I think we might have a problem. No, I just got a couple of visitors. Supposedly they were lost but…” Vern begins but a knock on the door silences him. Vern stares at the door for a moment. He can hear the man on the other end of the line calling his name but he ignores him. He sets the phone on the table and grabs his gun. As he’s about to open the door, it flies inward and hits him in the forehead. Vern stumbles back and the two women from earlier are there. They charge at him, attacking him. Vern fights back, getting a few shots in and blocking some of theirs, but things are falling due to the fight. He hears glass break from the back door and he knows they’re in trouble; he just hopes Alex doesn’t come back before they leave. One of the girls lands a kick, sending him flying and landing in the middle of the living room. A man appears and aims a gun at him and pulls the trigger five quick times. They watch as Vern dies before the man turns to the brunette.  
“Get the girl,” he says to her sternly. The brunette and her companion disappear up the stairs to look for Alexandra. Ten minutes later, they come back down the stairs and the brunette approaches the man.  
“Where is she?” the man asks, annoyance slipping in his tone. The brunette eyes the man warily.  
“She’s not here,” the brunette says, waiting for the inevitable outburst.  
“Dammit!” the man shouts, turning and throwing everything on the table next to him onto the floor. He turns back to face the brunette and her comrade. “Find her! Now!”

AVENGERS

“Are you sure about this?” Johnny asks Alex as he follows her into her room. Alex whips around and sends him a glare.  
“Of course I’m sure. I spent the first ten years of my life with the guy,” Alex argues heatedly.   
“Maybe he just looks like him,” Johnny offers warily. Alex was on edge and he was waiting for her to blow up any minute.   
“No,” Alex says adamantly, shaking her head. “I saw him dead in the middle of our living room floor lying in a pool of his own blood. His face in engraved into my memory. That was him.”  
Alex has started to pace her room, thinking about what she has seen and her mind wandering to the past. Johnny puts his hands up in surrender, knowing it is no use in arguing with her when she’s like this.   
“Okay, so the next question is why would a SHIELD agent have taken you away from your mom and dad, who might I add, are two of the best agents SHIELD has,” Johnny says, watching Alex walk back and forth in the room. His mind had begun to drum up theories and possibilities, not liking any of them.   
“I don’t know,” Alex replies, stopping her pacing and looking around the room. Suddenly, her eyes light up and she looks over at Johnny. “But I know how we can find out.”

AVENGERS

“We are going to get into so much trouble for this,” Nina says as she types into her computer, eyes never straying from it.   
“If you’re so worried why did you say you’d help?” Alex asks, rolling her eyes and looking over at Johnny. Johnny just shakes his head, smirking as Nina continues to type into her computer.   
“Pride. Because then I can officially say I’ve hacking into SHIELD,” Nina replies, still not taking her eyes off her screen. She hits a few more buttons and a wide grin appears on her face as her screen changes and folders appear. “Gotcha.”  
Alex and Johnny peer over her shoulder, watching as Nina begins to sift through the top secret files they most definitely do not have clearance to be looking at. She finds the one they need and clicks on it, pulling it up. Nina quickly skims through it before telling the two agents behind her what it says.  
“It says here Hessling was in a deep-cover mission. He was only supposed to check-in if there was a problem, otherwise they never heard from him,” Nina says, reading through the information. Alex shares a look with Johnny before turning her attention back to Nina and the file.   
“Does it say anything about October 1, 2007?” Alex asks her, feeling the pit in her stomach begin to grow. She didn’t understand what SHIELD had to do with her kidnapping and truthfully, she was a little nervous to find out.   
“Hold on,” Nina says, searching through more of the file. A few moments later, Nina speaks up, sharing what she has found. “Well, it’s the day he died. And he made contact with SHIELD that day as well.”  
“He did?” Alex asks, leaning closer and looking at the file. Johnny glances at Alex before moving closer himself.  
“If he wasn’t supposed to make contact unless something was wrong then something must’ve spooked him,” Johnny comments, reading through the information himself.  
“Yeah, well, he was right. They shot him five times in the chest,” Alexandra says, looking over at Johnny. Johnny looks at her and sighs. She was angry and scared and the two did not mix well. She was going to do something without thinking and then there were going to be even more problems to deal with.   
“There’s a recording,” Nina’s voice chimes in. Alex and Johnny look over at her, meeting her gaze. The three of them look back at the computer screen where Nina has pulled up the recording; all she had to do was press play. “Should we?”  
“Do it,” Alex says, wanting to know the truth behind everything. Johnny looks over at her.  
“Are you ready for that?” he asks, resting a hand on Nina’s arm to stall her for a moment, but keeping his eyes on Alex. Alex hesitates before making a decision.  
“I have to know the truth Johnny. I’m sick of being lied to and not knowing what really happened to me. Why I didn’t grow up knowing my parents,” Alex says, her eyes pleading with him to understand her point. Johnny hesitates a moment but then nods his head, taking his hand from Nina’s arm. Nina presses play, static is heard for a moment before a man’s voice, Vern’s, is heard.   
“Hey, I think we might have a problem.”  
“Is Alex in danger?” another man’s voice, a familiar one. Alex shares a look with Johnny and Nina, knowing the second voice sounded familiar but couldn’t quite place it. Alex turns her attention back to the computer screen  
“No, I just got a couple of visitors. Supposedly they were lost but…” Vern suddenly stops having heard a knock in the background. There is moving and the sound of the phone being put down. They listen, jumping slightly when a loud crash is heard. Alex’s breath catches in her throat as she listens to what seems to be a fight happening: bangs and grunts and crashes. They listen for a moment longer before five distinct shots ring out. Johnny looks over at Alex whose eyes are glued to the screen.   
“Get the girl,” a man’s voice demands. They listen for a while, hearing someone, most likely the man, shuffling around and moving things around. They hear walking approach and the man speaks up again, annoyance in his voice. “Where is she?”  
“She’s not here,” a woman says hesitantly.   
“Dammit!” the man shouts. There is a loud crash and then the call abruptly cuts off. Johnny looks over at Alex but before he can say anything, the door to the room bursts open and in walks Coulson and a handful of SHIELD agents. The three teenagers turn around, eyes wide. Coulson looks between them and his eyes glance to the computer screen behind them, picking up the name on the file.  
“We’re fine here. Go back to what you were doing,” Coulson says to the agents, dismissing them. The agents nod and abruptly leave the room, closing the door behind them. Coulson turns his attention back to the three teenagers in front of him. “Those are top secret files.”  
“Then maybe you should explain this whole situation,” Alex says, glaring at Coulson. She liked him and they always had a good relationship but if he had kept this stuff from her, they were going to have some problems. Phil furrows his eyebrows in confusion.  
“What do you mean?” Phil asks, looking from one teenager to the next.  
“The fact that SHIELD is the one who kidnapped me,” Alex explains angrily, her eyes narrowing.   
“SHIELD didn’t…I don’t understand,” Phil says, clearly as much in the dark as Alex is on the situation. The door suddenly opens and Director Fury walks in.  
“Coulson, did you find the…” he begins but then notices the group of young agents in front of them. Alex’s attention snaps to Fury, her eyes growing wide in recognition.  
“It was you,” she says. Fury furrows his eyebrows, not knowing what is going on. He looks over to Coulson, a question on his face. Coulson nods to the computer and Fury looks at the screen, realization dawning on him.  
“You shouldn’t be in those files. How did you get in?” Fury asks, looking between the three teenagers before him. Nina shoots him a smug look.  
“Genius, remember,” she says, a smirk playing on her lips.   
“It was you Vern called,” Alex continues as if she wasn’t interrupted, her mind still trying to wrap around everything. Fury looks over to Alex. Alex’s eyes narrow. “Why did SHIELD kidnap me? Who knew about this?”  
“You don’t have clearance for…” Fury begins but Alexandra cuts him off, anger lacing her words.   
“Screw clearance. I grew up not ever knowing my parents because you took me from them.” Fury sighs and looks to Coulson who shrugs his shoulders. Fury purses his lips at Coulson’s lack of backing him up. Fury looks back at Alex knowing they weren’t going to leave here until he gave her something.   
“Yes, we took you. You were in danger. People were after you and the only way to keep you safe was to put you where the least amount of people knew you were. I found out about the attack and I sent Hessling to get you before you were put in danger. They attacked in the front and while they were busy, Hessling went in the back and took you back to the cabin,” Fury explains, watching Alex and ignoring the looks he was getting from Coulson and Johnny. Alex tenses her jaw, shaking her head at the absurdity of it all.   
“Who knew about this?” she asks, emotion evident in her voice. She doesn’t take her eyes off Fury but she knows Johnny is watching her carefully.   
“Just me and Hessling,” Fury answers. Alex nods her head and looks around the room, pushing the emotion back down not wanting to look weak in front of everyone.   
“You found me though. In the woods,” she points out, looking back at Fury. Fury nods his head.  
“As soon as I heard what was happening on the other end of the line, I sent our best men out to find you. Still took us a couple days though,” Fury says. Alex sniffs and looks at the adjacent wall. She shakes her head and looks back at Fury, switching her attention between him and Coulson.  
“So, everything I knew about my past is a lie?” she asks. She shakes her head and glares at Fury. Before anyone can say anything, Alex shoves through them and out the room, slamming the door behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

FLASHBACK:  
Vern Hessling runs through the woods. Fury had dropped him off a mile down the road and he had to move fast to get to his destination in time. Fury found out that Romanoff and Barton were going to be attacked; that whoever was going to attack them was going after their daughter, and it was his job to make sure they didn’t succeed. Hessling comes to a stop and he slowly makes his way to the edge of the woods. He crouches down and peers out of the bushes at the house before him, watching for anything out of the ordinary. There is a sound and Hessling looks around for the creator of it. He doesn’t have to wait for long when a group of ten people quickly make their way up to the front of the house. Hessling quickly scurries through the woods until he gets to the back of the house and runs up to the back right window. Fury had told him which one was the window to the nursery before he left. There is a loud crash and bang from the front of the house. He hears some shouts and some more loud noises. Seeing it as his time, Vern picks up a rock and smashes the window, clearing the glass free of the frame. Hessling reaches up and pulls himself onto the ledge and through the window, dropping to the ground. He looks around and sees the crib across the room. Vern runs over and wraps up Alex in the purple blanket and picks her up, carrying her back to the window. There is a loud crash from nearby and Hessling looks behind him making sure he doesn’t need to eliminate any threats. There is a whooshing noise and then a thump from outside the door. Vern turns and climbs out the window, holding Alex tightly as he jumps down to the ground. He runs into the woods and doesn’t look back, knowing where he is to take the baby.

AVENGERS

Alex walks out the door into SHIELD’s garage. Don looks up at her, sending her a smile. Alex forces a smile on to her face. Don grabs the keys to the Camaro and hands them to her.  
“Thanks Don,” Alex says, taking the keys and walking to where she sees the Camaro parked. She unlocks the doors and throws her bag in the backseat before climbing into the front and starting up the car, driving off. Once outside of SHIELD, Alex puts on the gas and speeds to the edge of the city, her destination clear in her mind. 

AVENGERS

Johnny walks into Alex’s room and looks around, not seeing her anywhere. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion; she should still be in here, but maybe she got up earlier than usual today. He exits the room and begins searching SHIELD for her. He walks into the archery range but doesn’t see her there either. Sighing, Johnny makes his way to the gym. Walking in, Johnny looks around and again doesn’t see Alex anywhere. A girl walks by him and Johnny gently grabs her, stopping her forward motion.  
“Hey, Leiya, have you seen Alex anywhere?” he asks the girl. Leiya looks over at him and shakes her head. Johnny purses his lips and turns around to go check the garage; maybe she had gone to visit Avenger tower. Johnny walks out the door and over to Don’s room. Don looks up when Johnny leans up against the counter.  
“Johnny,” Don says in greeting giving him a knowing look. Johnny offers him a smile.  
“Hey Don. Has Alex come through here at all?” Johnny asks. Don nods his head.  
“Yeah, about a half hour ago. She took the Camaro. I assumed she was going to visit her parents. It’s what she usually does,” Don answers. Johnny nods his head, thanking the middle aged man before going back inside. A blonde agent approaches him.  
“Coulson wants you in his office,” he says. Johnny nods his head and the blonde man leaves. Johnny walks through the halls, rounding a corner and knocking on one of the doors.  
“Come in,” Coulson’s voice sounds through the door. Johnny opens the door and walks in, noticing not only is Coulson here but Fury as well.   
“Sir?” Johnny asks, his eyebrows furrowed, wondering what’s going on.   
“We’ll explain as soon as Alex gets here,” Fury replies cryptically, looking at Johnny.  
“She went to Avengers Tower,” Johnny says, glancing at Coulson before looking back over at Fury. Coulson raises his eyebrows.  
“When?” he asks urgently, leaning forward on his desk.  
“Uh…Don said she left about a half hour ago,” Johnny says warily, not liking the look Coulson has on his face.   
“I just got off the phone with Barton. He said Alex called Romanoff and said she was sick; she wasn’t coming out today,” Phil says, looking over at Fury.   
“This isn’t good,” Fury says, looking between Coulson and Johnny. “We called you in here to tell you, you had to keep an eye on her. I’ve been getting intel that the people who tried to kidnap her years ago have been spotted.”  
“If she’s off the grid…” Coulson says, trailing off, shaking his head. “We need to call Barton and Romanoff.”  
“They’re not going to be happy,” Fury says, giving Phil a look which Coulson returns with a determined glare.  
“They’ll be even more pissed if we don’t tell them,” Coulson says, already taking out his phone and making the phone call.

AVENGERS

“You did what?!” Romanoff shouts angrily. Before anyone can do anything, she has slammed Fury into the wall behind him, her forearm in his throat. Coulson stands off to the side, knowing this was going to happen. He looks over at Barton, his fingers twitching for his bow and arrow on his back. The only thing keeping him from putting one through Fury’s body is Steve’s hand on his arm and Bruce stepping between Clint and Fury. Fury had just finished telling the whole of the Avengers the complete truth about Alex’s kidnapping.   
“We did what had to be done. No one could know where she was. It was just me and Hessling and even still they found them,” Fury tries to explain, Romanoff’s forearm digging into his throat.   
“Her parents are SHIELD’s top agents, they used to be assassins. You didn’t think she was safest with them?” Tony bites out, glaring at Fury.   
“We could have protected her. At least she would have been with us,” Clint growls, taking a step forward. Steve Rogers pulls him back and Bruce Banner rests a hand on Clint’s chest. Clint looks down at Banner’s hand, glaring at it, before turning his glare to Banner’s face. Bruce doesn’t back down though. Coulson steps forward and rest a hand on Natasha’s arm, waiting for her to let Fury go. Reluctantly, Natasha forcible let’s Fury go and steps back, but still glares at him.   
“Whether you like me now or not, we need to find out where Alex is. If these people find out she’s still alive, where she is before we do, she will be in danger,” Fury says, looking at each of the Avengers.   
“We’re going to need all the help we can get, so I called in Thor,” Coulson adds, making sure to look at Romanoff and Barton.   
“Thor can come so soon from the last time he was here?” Banner says, glad he is coming but knowing Thor is also ruling Asgard.  
“He was very determined to come help when he heard Alex was in trouble,” Coulson assures the team.   
“Who are these people?” Barton asks Coulson but is still sending Fury a death glare. Phil looks over at Fury who nods his head, seeing the group is more inclined to talk to Coulson over him right now.   
“The best we’ve been able to find out is they call themselves Dark Renegade,” Coulson says hesitantly, knowing they don’t have much to go on.  
“We know the leader is called the death serpent, but other than that, we don’t have much on him,” Fury chimes in, causing the glares he’s receiving to darken.  
“So you’re telling me, you’ve been chasing these guys for over a decade and you’ve got nothing on them? And we have no clue where our daughter is?” Clint all but shouts at Fury, his body and jaw tensing in anger.   
“Okay, well then let’s look at the other important part of this. Where would Alex go?” Rogers asks, taking a step forward, putting himself in the middle of the group, making eye contact with everyone. 

AVENGERS

Alex pulls the car off the road onto a pull off. She puts the Camaro in park and turns it off. Climbing out of the car, she grabs a map she had picked up at the local store of the surrounding woods and trails. She opens it up and pulls a marker out of her back pocket. She searches the map for a few minutes before finding what she’s looking for and circles it numerous times with the marker. She had seen where the house was she spent her first ten years of her life on Nina’s computer screen before they were interrupted. She looks at the map some more, only not as long and finds where she is now and circles it once, drawing a line from it to her destination. Looking at the map for a moment and sighing, Alex puts the marker back in her back pocket and folds the map up to only show the section she needs. She locks the doors to the car after grabbing her backpack, and enters the woods through a path nearby.

AVENGERS

Alex walks through the woods, glancing down at the map in her hands to make sure she’s heading in the right direction. According to the map, she was almost at the house. She looks back up and sees a clearing up ahead and she quickens her pace until she reaches it. Alex crouches down behind some bushes and watches the house carefully. The grass around it was cut and a table and chairs were on the porch. Nothing was falling apart and there were object lying around that weren’t there when she had lived there, so it seems to be inhabited by someone. Alex waits a little while longer but doesn’t see anyone around. She stands up and warily walks over to the house, up the steps, and to the front door. She glances around before knocking on the door, waiting for someone to answer. She knocks one more time, in case her first one wasn’t heard, and waits once again with the same result.   
Alex looks around once more and pulls out a lock pick set from the inside pocket of her jacket. She squats down in front of the door and quickly picks the lock, opening the door slowly. She sneaks in the house, putting her lock pick set away, and looks around her. She keeps her eyes and ears open as she walks through the house, looking around. As she approaches the living room, Alex’s eyes fall on the spot where she had found Vern lying in his blood on the floor. She tears her eyes away and continues searching throughout the first floor of the house. She doesn’t see anyone and doesn’t notice anything that would help her with what happened all those years ago.   
Alex moves up the stairs quietly, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone that might be hiding in the house. She steps on a stair and it creeks loudly. She freezes and waits but doesn’t hear anything so she continues up the stairs. She looks in the first room and sees it’s the bathroom. She moves to the next room and sees a furnished bedroom, one she remembers used to be Vern’s. Alex goes inside and begins searching throughout the room, in the drawers and dressers. She finds papers but nothing of any value to her. She leaves the room and continues down the hall to the last room; the room that used to be hers. She stops at the closed door and presses her ear against it, listening. When she doesn’t hear anything, she slowly opens the door and peers inside.   
Instead of a bedroom, she sees it’s a study. She walks into the room, shutting the door behind her and begins searching. She moves to the desk first and begins searching through the drawers, moving on to the shelves and the boxes on the other side of the room. She opens the door to the closet and searches through it, but still doesn’t find anything. Not that she expected to find anything lying around but maybe Vern hid something somewhere and the new owners never found it. She lets out a sigh of frustration and falls back into the wall behind her. A piece of wood from the paneling in the closet falls to the ground. Alex moves and turns around, looking down at it. Her eyes move up to where the panel was and notices a small compartment in the wall. Alex raises an eyebrow and she moves closer to the compartment and pulls out a journal and a file folder from inside it.   
Alex moves to the desk, setting her backpack on the floor beside her and opens the file. It contains information about the mission and who is after her. A group called Dark Renegade and someone called the death serpent. There wasn’t much in the file so Alex closes it up and puts it in her back before grabbing the journal and opening it up. It was in Vern’s writing, that much she was sure. She begins reading it and soon finds that Vern had kept a log the whole ten years they had lived here. Intrigued, Alex begins reading through it.


	4. Chapter 4

FLASHBACK:  
Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton were exhausted. They had fought against armies and assassins; been stuck in the stickiest situations with no help of getting out. But this? This was the hardest situation they’ve ever been in.  
They sat on the couch listening to their three-month old daughter cry in her crib. She had to learn that she didn’t need to be held every time she cried; she had to learn to calm down herself. But Alex was still an infant and Natasha and Clint new parents so exhaustion came with the territory and it was making this harder for them.  
Suddenly, Natasha grabs Clint’s arm and looks over at him, Pulling him from his thoughts. Clint looks over at Natasha, furrowing his eyebrows at her. Romanoff points towards the back of the house where Alexandra’s room is located.  
“Listen,” she says, looking relieved. Clint cocks his head slightly, listening for a moment to the silence.  
“Finally,” Clint sighs in relief. It had only been three months but he was already very protective of his daughter and he didn’t like hearing or seeing her cry so this whole self-consoling business killed him every time.  
The two SHIELD agents sit back in the couch, relaxing for the evening. They don’t get to for long though, because suddenly guns erupt in open fire causing the living room window to break and crash to the floor in hundreds of pieces. Romanoff and Barton dive to the floor for cover, not knowing what’s going on. Clint rolls to the right, opening the drawer in a nearby desk and pulls out a gun. Romanoff rolls to the left and rips a gun off the bottom of an end table it was taped to.   
They take cover just as the front door is kicked open. Clint and Natasha begin shooting, taking out multiple assailants. There is a crash from the back as if someone broke a window. Clint runs towards the other side of the room, handing his gun off to Natasha. Barton flings open the closet and grabs his quiver, slipping it onto his back as he grabs his bow. He reaches behind him and pulls out an arrow, stringing it up. He rushes into the hallway and sees one of the attackers approaching Alex’s room. Clint raises his bow and arrow and pulls the string back, letting it go. The arrow flies through the air and hits the guy in the chest. The guy stumbles and falls into the wall next to the door and crashes to the floor.  
After accepting the fun from Clint, Natasha continues shooting the attackers as they come through the door. There is a noise and she looks in time to see their assailants climbing through the broken living room window. Natasha begins shooting at them while simultaneously shooting at the door. Soon, Natasha’s original gun runs out of bullets and she alternates shooting at the window and the door. When she moves to shoot a guy coming through the door, an arrow embeds itself in his chest. Trusting Barton to take care of the door, Romanoff focus’s her attention on the window.  
It’s not long before the two SHIELD agents diminish the threat completely. Natasha and Clint share a look before their eyes grow wide and they rush to their daughters’ room. Clint slams the door open and Natasha runs to the crib, looking inside it.  
“No! Clint she’s not here!” Natasha shouts, panic making her voice quiver slightly. Clint runs to the crib and looks inside, frantically moving the blankets around as if Alex is hiding somewhere. Clint looks around the room and sees the window is broken. He jogs over and looks out the window but doesn’t see anything. Clint climbs through the window and jumps down, searching around the backyard. Natasha quickly follows after him, the two of them moving towards the woods, looking into the trees. Natasha wraps her arms around one of Clint’s and curls in on him. “Clint?”  
“We’ll get her back Nat; we’ll find her,” Clint says determinedly, glaring into the trees before them.

AVENGERS

Lost in the journal entries, Alex almost doesn’t hear the front door open and shut. Alex freezes and looks to the closed study door, her heart rate picking up. She quickly closes the journal and shoves it in her backpack. She throws her backpack over her shoulder and swiftly moves to the door but freezes when she hears footsteps climb up the stairs. Alexandra can feel her heart beat faster and her breath quicken. She turns around and looks around the room, her eyes lying on the window across from her. She swiftly moves over to it and opens it up, slipping one leg outside it. Sitting in the window, Alex looks up when she hears the study door open. A man in his mid-thirties with black hair walks in. He looks up and sees her sitting in the window. He furrows his eyebrows but then his eyes grow wide.  
“You. We’ve been looking for you,” he says, sending a sneer her way. Alex slips her other leg out the window and turns around to face the house. The man charges at her and Alex hangs down from the window, letting go and landing on her feet in a crouch. She looks up and sees the man looking down at her, a snarl on his face. He turns and disappears and Alex jumps up and turns around, running into the woods.   
Alex hears the man running after her and she quickens her pace. She wasn’t about to get caught by these people now. She runs around a rock formation and trips on a log, crashing to the ground. Alex lets out a groan and glances behind her; the man was only a few yards away. She jumps up to her feet, feeling the cuts on her knees from falling. She looks at the log seeing it’s more of a fat, short, club-like branch. She picks it up and flattens herself up against the rock. The man rounds the corner and Alex swings the club and smashes it into the man’s head. The dark-haired man crashes into the rock, cracking the back of his head against it before falling to the ground. Alex drops the branch and squats down next to the man, feeling for a pulse. It was there but he wouldn’t be waking up any time soon. Alex quickly runs through the woods, back the way she had come.   
As Alex nears the spot where she left the Camaro, she pulls out her phone. She pushes a few buttons and her thumb hesitates over the call button. Before she can back out, Alex pushes the button and puts it to her ear.

AVENGERS

“The house,” Clint Barton says, standing and leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed. The rest of the Avengers, Fury, and Coulson all look over at him, furrowing their eyebrows.   
“What?” Coulson asks, shaking his head slightly.   
“The house. She’d go back to the house,” Barton explains, sharing a look with Romanoff. Natasha nods her head in agreement.   
“It’s where I’d go. She wants answers so what better place to go than the first place she remembers,” Natasha adds, looking at the group sitting around the table with.   
“It’s a better offer than we’ve come up with,” Coulson says, nodding his head and standing up.   
“I’ll get the plane ready for you,” Fury says, pulling out his phone and making the phone call. The Avengers all move to their feet and head towards the door.  
“We meet at the plane in twenty,” Clint says. The Avengers nod their heads and disappear to get themselves ready, Barton following after them.   
Fifteen minutes later finds Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Tony waiting at the plane for the rest of the group to show up. Barton’s phone begins ringing and he pulls it out of his pocket. Seeing who it is he quickly answers it, glancing at the others next to him.  
“Alex? You okay?” Clint asks into the phone, glad they’ve finally heard from her. Natasha looks over at him.  
“Put it on speaker phone,” Natasha whispers, pointing at the phone.   
“Yeah, but someone’s after me. I’m coming up to the Camaro now,” Alex says in return as Clint pushes a button and Alex’s voice sounds through the speaker.   
“Where are you?” Natasha pipes up, looking at the phone being held in the middle of the group.   
“In Maine. Out at the old house. There was some guy there and he started chasing me and…” Alex answers, trailing off. Clint furrows his eyebrows at the absence of his daughters’ voice.   
“Alex?” Clint calls out. A nervous laugh sounds over the speaker. “Alex?”  
“Get her!” a voice is heard in the background and there is shuffling heard over the phone before the call cuts off.   
“Banner! Rogers!” Stark shouts towards the door. Steve and Bruce come running into the room, having been walking down the hall to the room already. They take in the worried and angry faces before them, wondering what they missed.  
“What happened?” Steve asks as he and Bruce come to a stop in front of the group.   
“They’re after Alex,” Natasha says, Clint already climbing into the plane. The others follow after them. Tony lags behind and grabs Thor’s arm. Natasha looks back at them, giving them a questioning look.   
“We’ll go ahead, see if we can intervene sooner,” Tony says in reply. Natasha nods her head and shuts the door. Thor and Tony take off, heading in the direction the house is. 

AVENGERS

“Alex? You okay?” Clint’s voice comes in over the phone and Alex feels some of the tension leave from her body.   
“Yeah, but someone’s after me. I’m coming up to the Camaro now,” Alex says, coming up to the edge of the woods she is in.   
“Where are you?” Natasha’s voice chimes in and Alex feels a smile appear on her face. She stops for a minute and glances back the way she had come.   
“In Maine. Out at the old house,” Alex says turning around and walking out of the woods and into the pull-off. “There was some guy there and he started chasing me and…”  
Alex’s voice tapers off as she sees a group of five men standing near the Camaro and her eyes grow wide. She can hear her dad’s voice calling her name but all she can think is that she’s in big trouble.   
“Get her!” one of the guys shouts and the group of men bolts towards her. Alex turns and begins running, almost smacking into a tree. She stops herself, her phone hitting the tree and falling to the ground, the call ending. She quickly pushes herself off the tree and takes off into the woods, hearing the men crashing after her. 

AVENGERS

Thor and Stark fly over the woods, keeping a lookout for anything that will point them in the right direction of either Alex or the house. Tony spots it first and pulls to a stop, hovering in the air. Thor stops next to him and Tony points ahead of them to a spot in the trees that seems to be mostly clear. They fly over to it and soon a house comes into their view. They descend and land on the ground, taking a look around them and not seeing anything that poses as a threat. The quickly walk up to the house and Tony aim his palm at the door and blasts it open.   
“I don’t think that was necessary,” Thor says, giving Tony a look. Tony shrugs and enters the house; he was upset that Alex was in trouble and he was upset that Fury kept this from everyone. Thor follows after him and heads up the stairs while Tony searches the downstairs. Thor begins looking into the rooms but doesn’t see anything until he reaches the last one. He notices the window open and he walks in taking a look around, which is when he notices a piece of wood lying in the doorway of the closet. He walks over and picks it up, looking around in the closet, seeing the compartment that Alex had found earlier. Seeing it empty, and assuming whatever was in it Alex has already taken, Thor tosses the piece of wood on the ground and swiftly walks back downstairs meeting Stark in the entryway.   
“Anything?” Tony asks him. Thor shakes his head.  
“I found a secret compartment but it was empty,” he explains, looking around the house but not moving anywhere. “You?”  
“Except some things scattered on the floor? Nothing,” Tony replies, shaking his head.   
“My assumption is she ran into the woods,” Thor says, looking out the open doorway into the trees before them. Tony rolls his eyes.  
“Most likely. Especially if the owner came home and chased her,” Tony says, already heading back out the door and into the clearing. Thor follows after them and they take in the surrounding woods, debating their next step. Tony talks into his com. “Romanoff…Barton…Rogers…”  
“Here Stark,” Romanoff answers through the com system.   
“We’re at the house. No sign of Alex or anyone else for that matter. How close are you?” Tony says in turn, watching as Thor walks away towards a make-shift path leading into the woods.   
“We’re about twenty minutes out,” Romanoff replies, her voice strained from the worry.   
“We’re going start looking around in the woods, see if we can find her,” Tony says, following after Thor who has just disappeared into said woods.   
“We’ll contact you when we there,” Romanoff replies, going silent on the other line.


	5. Chapter 5

FLASHBACK:  
Alex clutches her backpack to her chest, her knees pulled up tight against her. She’s sitting on the ground leaning up against one of the many trees in the woods. She had been wandering the woods for the better part of the day and it was getting dark fast. She couldn’t get the image of Vern lying in a pool of his own blood out of her mind. She takes in a shaky breath and a tear trails down her cheek. She wasn’t going to cry; now was not the time to fall apart. Whoever had killed Vern could still be out there and coming for her next. A twig breaks and Alexandra’s head shoots up. She watches the woods around her, waiting. She hears another twig snap again to her right and she jumps up, throwing her backpack back onto her back and takes off running through the woods. She wasn’t going to end up like Vern; she was going to get out of here. Alex looks behind her and doesn’t see anyone chasing after her. She looks back ahead of her and runs right into a bigger man, falling to the ground. Alex’s eyes grow big and she quickly crab-walks backwards, grabbing a stick and jumping to her feet when she’s far enough away. She holds the stick, ready to use it as a weapon if need be. The African-American man holds his hands up in a placating manner before speaking calmly.  
“Hold on there. We’re here to help,” the man says, watching Alex warily. Alexandra glances behind him and sees three other men standing a little further back, waiting. Alex narrows her eyes at him, not trusting him. The man continues. “I’m Director Fury. I belong with SHIELD.”  
“SHIELD? Is that some sort of government thing?” Alex asks suspiciously. Fury smirks, slowly putting his hands down. He takes a step forward and Alex quickly takes three steps back, holding the stick tighter.   
“Okay, okay. I’m going to reach for my badge,” Fury says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a badge and showing it to her. Alex studies it before glancing back up at Fury. Fury puts his badge away.   
“You said you were here to help,” Alex says, glancing at the other men and seeing they haven’t moved. She looks back at Fury.   
“Yes, we are. We can take you back to SHIELD. Give you a home. Teach you how to become a SHIELD agent,” Fury explains. He takes a step forward and this time Alex allows him to, listening to his proposition.   
“And if I say no?” Alex asks, waiting for the catch.  
“Then, we take you to an orphanage and you can find a home that way,” Fury says truthfully. Alex thinks about this, not sure if she can trust these men. Her stomach suddenly begins to growl. “We can feed you on the way there.”  
Alex hesitates but then decides if these men were going to kill her they could’ve, and would’ve, done it by now. She lowers the stick and tosses it onto the ground.   
“Okay,” she says, nodding her head and walking closer to the men. Fury lets out a sigh of relief and motions for her to follow them.  
“Our jet is this way,” Fury says, leading the way through the woods. 

AVENGERS

Alex runs through the woods, crashing through the brush and over fallen logs. She can hear the men behind her, chasing after her; her heart is beating rapidly and she almost trips, catching herself on a tree trunk. She pushes herself off the trunk and continues running, grabbing another tree trunk and swinging herself around it to move in another direction. She hits a root in the ground and stumbles, falling and rolling down a ravine hill. She crashes into a tree, letting out a groan. She hears shouts from above and shoves herself to her feet, feeling the cuts and bruises on her body from her fall.   
Alexandra notices a make-shift cave formed by a rock formation a few yards away and she rushes over to it, glancing inside. Not seeing any threat inside it, she crawls inside and waits, trying to steady her breathing. She hears shouts nearby and she listens carefully.  
“I swear I saw her go down here,” a man’s voice is heard. There is an abundance of rustling and grumbling as the men climb down the ravine hill and begin looking around. Alex cups a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound of her breathing just in time before a pair of feet walk by, stopping in front of her. She closes her eyes, willing the men to go away.  
“She’s not down here. You must be seeing things,” the man says to the first speaker. The feet walk away and Alex opens her eyes, forcing her panic down and waiting to see if they come back. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Alex decides she’s safe and a small sob escapes her. She didn’t know what the people wanted with her but they scared the hell out of her.   
“Suck it up Barton,” Alex scolds herself quietly before forcing her fear back down and putting a stoic mask on her face. She takes a couple deep breaths and slowly crawls out from the cave, keeping a lookout or any of the men. She doesn’t see any and pulls herself completely out of the cave and stands up, looking around her. She decides to climb up the other side of the ravine and move in that direction. 

AVENGERS

Tony and Thor had been trudging through the woods for fifteen minutes with no sign of Alex or any of the guys who are after her. They see a clearing up ahead and quickly and quietly make their way towards it. They stop as they approach it, hiding in the trees and watch the clearing making sure nothing of a threat is around. Tony notices the person first.  
“Thor,” he says, keeping his eyes on the person warily entering the clearing.  
“I see her,” Thor responds already moving into the clearing. Tony quickly follows him, relief evident in his features.

AVENGERS

“You let them go after Alex and you didn’t tell me!?”  
Coulson tenses and turns around to see a very angry Johnny storming towards him. Coulson sighs knowing once Johnny found out the Avengers left to go after Alex he was going to be angry. He was just hoping it would’ve taken a little longer.   
“They were in a hurry and it wasn’t my call. It was Fury’s,” Coulson explains weakly, knowing nothing he says will make Johnny relax.   
“She my partner! I should’ve been told! I should be out there with them!” Johnny shouts his jaw tense and his eyebrows furrowed in anger.   
“If I had my way, you’d be out there. Like I said, it was Director Fury’s call, not mine,” Coulson says calmly. Johnny all but growls before scowling at Coulson and turning around, stomping back out of the room. Coulson sighs and looks over at the agent standing next to him. The agent raises his eyebrows and shakes his head before walking away. 

AVENGERS

Alexandra walks through the woods, wiping the hair that has fallen out of her ponytail and into her face out of the way. She glances up ahead and notices a clearing and she sighs, wanting to get out of the woods, even for a little bit. Of course, a clearing would make it easier for the guys to spot her as well. Alex pauses at the edge of the clearing and glances around the clearing. Other than being surrounded by woods on three sides and a steep ravine across the way, she doesn’t see anything. Warily, she begins walking out into the clearing, watching her surroundings carefully. Stopping, she thinks about her decision and decides to just walk along the edge instead of going into the middle. She hears a noise ahead of her and she looks over, halting in her footsteps. A relieved look appears on her face as she sees Thor and Tony hastily making their way to her. Alex runs towards them, veering out into the clearing to reach them faster.   
“Tony! Thor!” she shouts, a relieved smile on her face. Just as she reaches them, Tony notices a group of men enter the clearing. His eyes grow slightly wider seeing them raise their guns. Tony quickly grabs Alex and swerves her around, putting him and his Iron Man suit between her and the guns, shielding her from the sudden onslaught of bullets. Thor propels himself into the air and swings Mjolnir sending it flying towards the guys. Mjolnir crashes into them, sending a handful of them flying. Alex flinches, feeling Tony jolt from the bullets impacting his suit.   
Tony turns around when the onslaught stops and points the palm of his hand at the rest of the group of men. He sends a beam out towards them, striking them and sending them backwards through the air. Alex hears a noise behind her and turns to see the Avengers’ plane hovering above them. The plane gently sets down and the door opening. Out jumps the rest of the Avengers moments before a horde of men from the group Dark Renegade begin emerging from the woods around them.   
“Tony…” Alex says, noticing the men entering the clearing. Tony looks around seeing the men walking into the field, surrounding them.   
“Get to your parents, I’ll cover you,” Tony says, knowing Alex has no weapons to protect herself; her fists weren’t going to be very useful against guns. Alex bolts towards the plane, hearing Tony fly into the air and shooting the men with his beams. She sees her mom ahead of her and runs towards her, Natasha beckoning her to run faster.   
“Alex, down!” Alex doesn’t see the speaker, but she recognizes her dad’s voice. Hearing the urgency in his tone she drops to her stomach on the ground as fast as she can, hearing an arrow whiz by where her head just was. Alex looks up and sees Natasha running towards her. She shoves herself to her feet and meets her halfway, Natasha grabbing her and all but dragging her back to the plane due to running so fast. 

AVENGERS

The Avengers fly through the air, seeing a clearing up ahead. As they near it, Clint sees Tony and Thor there, Thor in the sky. He notices Tony shoot his beam at a group of armed men, which is when he notices Alex being shielded by Stark.   
“Clint…” Natasha says, seeing the same thing.  
“Yeah, I see her,” Clint says, bringing the plane down and landing it. Natasha unbuckles her seatbelt and rushes to the back where Steve has already opened the door. Steve and the Hulk exit the plane, followed by Natasha and Clint. The four of them noticing a large number of Dark Renegade men entering the clearing from the dense wood surrounding them. Steve and the Hulk quickly enter the fight, Steve knocking out any man that approaches him. The Hulk leaps through the air and lands on a couple of men, grabbing a couple more and smashing them against each other before moving to the next closest ‘bad guy’.   
Clint sees Thor fly by and jumps up, grabbing ahold of Thor’s hand. Thor brings him to the top of the plane to have a better eye on the proceedings. Natasha notices Alex running towards her and she waves her hand to get her to move faster. Clint sees a man break through the barrier of Avengers and raise his gun towards Alexandra and he reacts on instinct, hoping Alex listens to him.  
“Alex, down!” Clint shouts as he brings his bow and arrow up and letting it loose. He sees Alex drop to the ground just before the arrow flies over her head and hit the guy aiming his gun at her in the chest. The guy drops to his ground, dead. Natasha grabs Alex’s arm and begins running towards the plane.   
“Get inside,” Romanoff orders as they reach the plane. Alex scowls.  
“I can help,” she argues her stance and face defiant.   
“You have no weapons. Stay here,” Natasha says again, giving her a little nudge up the stairs before moving towards a group of guys heading in their direction. Alex huffs but climbs up the stairs and into the plane anyways.

AVENGERS

Tony hits a man in the face who has gotten too close to him, turning and shooting a beam at a couple of men charging at him with their guns raised. He looks up and sees Thor fly to the ground, landing and swinging Mjolnir, taking out three men at once. To his left the Hulk picks up a guy and sends him flying into a tree with a crack causing Tony to flinch. Steve is on his left as well but closer, and a group of five guys are approaching him.   
“Rogers!” Tony shouts, aiming his palm at his friend. Steve looks over and sees what Tony is doing and raises his shield. Tony shoots his beam at the shield and Steve moves his shield, the beam bouncing off it and hitting the men approaching him as well as a few extras. Tony stops his beam and turns to hit another man getting too close. Steve throws his shield, knocking out a couple more men, the shield returning to him like a boomerang. There is a shout and Tony looks over to see Clint crashing to his back on the plane and being dragged off it by a rope caught on his leg. Tony shoots a beam at the guy on the other end of the rope, sending him propelling into the air and crashing to the ground; but not before Clint slides off the plane.


	6. Chapter 6

Natasha throws a punch and does a spinning kick, kicking one of the guys in the head, knocking him out. She turns her attention to the remaining two guys and throws a side kick at one of their midsections and then turns, throwing a round kick at the others’ head. Before she can turn her attention back to the first guy, he throws a kick, hitting Natasha in the stomach. Romanoff bends over and the guy hits her in the face, sending her to the ground. She looks up and sees the guy approach her. She flips up onto her hands and wraps her legs around the guys’ neck, twisting and flinging him to the ground, smashing his head into a rock. She lands on her feet and quickly does a spinning hook kick to the last guys face, sending him sprawling to the ground with his colleagues.   
“Alex!” Natasha whips her head around having heard Barton’s yell, the sight meeting her eyes making her fear etch up a notch.

AVENGERS

Alex watches from the plane cockpit, angry she can’t help; she didn’t like being helpless and not able to take care of herself. She listens in on the conversations between the team, having grabbed an extra com from the room next door. She sees her mom fighting three guys off to the side. Alex hears a noise out in the other room and she turns her head in that direction, listening. She quickly looks around the cockpit for anything she can use as a weapon but doesn’t find anything. Alex moves to the cockpit door and waits. When the door opens, Alex grabs it and slams it into the guys’ face, sending him stumbling back. Alexandra whips the door open and places a well-aimed kick to the guys face, sending his head flinging back. She kicks him in the face again and he crumples to the floor. There is a noise to her right and she turns to see a couple more guys entering the plane. Alex flings open a closet door and pulls out a toolbox, setting it on the table, grabbing a screwdriver just as one of the guys charge at her. Alex blocks his punch and stabs him in the shoulder with the screwdriver before slamming her elbow into his face. The guy crashes into the wall and falls to the floor, unconscious. Alex grabs a hammer and as the second guy throws a punch, Alex steps back, swinging the hammer and slamming it into the guys’ arm, hearing a crack of bone. Alex moves and swings the hammer again, hitting the guy in the ribs a couple times, hearing a couple more crack of bone. As the guy falls to his knees in pain, Alex grabs his head and slams it into her knee, effectively knocking him out. She turns around only to be punched in the face, her head jolting back. Alex stumbles and the other guy advances on her. Alex grabs the tool box and swings it at the guy hitting him but only enough to slow his advancement. Alex moves to get clear of the guy only to get hit again and then grabbed from another guy. She moves to get away but the guy hanging onto her places a knife to her throat and begins dragging her out of the plane and into the open. 

AVENGERS

Clint sends an arrow flying at one of their attackers, quickly loading another one and sending that one flying directly afterwards. He keeps his eyes open for anything that’ll help the team out but he’s pretty busy taking out as many of the guys himself. He feels something latch onto his ankle and he looks down to see a rope attached to a hook wrapped around it. Before he can think, someone yanks on the rope and Clint shouts in surprise and anger. He falls onto his back and is being dragged across the plane. A beam suddenly shoots in front of him and hits the guy hanging onto the other side of the rope, sending him flying into the air. However, Clint finds himself sliding down the side of the plane anyways. As he nears the ground, Clint crouches, landing on his feet before standing up and stringing another arrow in his bow, sending it flying at a guy charging at him. Something catches his eye on his left and he looks over, his eyes growing big.   
“Alex!” Barton shouts, seeing a guy dragging her out in the open, holding a knife to her neck. Barton swiftly grabs an arrow and strings it in his bow, aiming it at the guy, but not releasing it. He sees Natasha pull her gun out and aim it as well, but she has a bad angle and knows it. Alex tries to grab the guys arm but he is pinning her arms down hard and she is unable to do so.   
“Are you really going to shoot me? With your daughter right in front of me? Face it Barton. You’re not that good of a shot,” the guy says, leering at Clint causing Clint to narrow his eyes at him. Alex’s face hardens and she looks right at her dad.  
“I trust you,” she says, causing Clint to glance at her. “Dad…I trust you.”  
“Clint…” Natasha says loudly, knowing what their daughter is saying. The guy glances over at Natasha, giving Clint the miniscule window that he needs and he let’s go of the bowstring, sending the arrow through the air. Hearing a whistle noise, the guy looks over at Clint again. Alex feels the arrow whiz by her head and lodge into her attackers head, jolting them both back slightly. Alex feels the guys’ arm release her enough for her to break free, pulling the knife away from her throat and letting him drop to the ground. The guys’ momentum, though, pulls Alex down and she lands on her knees.   
Alex sees a couple guys run towards her and she hears a gun go off numerous times and Alex looks over to see her mom putting bullets into the men coming at her, dropping them like flies. Alex looks around and sees a large group of the Dark Renegade heading straight for the Captain. She moves to push herself up and her hand hits something. She looks down to see a grenade attached to the dead guys’ belt and she grabs it, shoving herself to her feet. She looks over at the large group of men advancing on Steve and she runs towards them.  
“Alex!” Natasha and Clint shout at the same time, seeing her run towards a large group of the Dark Renegade. Alex halts in her steps and pulls the pin out of the grenade, pulling her arm back and throwing it as hard as she can.   
“Captain, run!” Alex shouts turning and running back towards her parents. Steve looks over and sees something flying through the air, noticing it’s a grenade. Tony, Thor, and the Hulk notice this as well and take cover. The grenade falls almost in the middle of the group and immediately blows up, sending the men in all different directions.   
“What were you thinking!?” Natasha shouts at Alex, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to the plane when Alex gets close enough.   
“I was thinking I refused to be the damsel in distress anymore,” Alex shoots back. “I’m a SHIELD agent not Snow White.”  
“You’re a Junior SHIELD agent,” Natasha corrects, aiming her gun and shooting a couple guys who get too close.   
“Yeah, well, I take after my mom,” Alex points out, looking at Romanoff pointedly. Natasha freezes, looking at her daughter.  
“Yeah, I guess you do. But your stubbornness comes from your father,” Natasha replies with a smirk.  
“If you two are done with your mother-daughter bonding, we could really use your help,” Tony’s voice comes over the coms. Natasha rolls her eyes, glancing over at Tony shooting a beam at a couple guys, sending them sprawling to the ground. Alex looks behind her at the plane and something catches her eye, resulting in a mischievous smirk appearing on her face. Romanoff looks back over at Alex and sees the smirk and looks over to where Alex is staring. The same object catches Romanoff’s eye and her own mischievous smirk appears on her face.  
“Come with me,” Natasha says, heading inside the plane, Alex close at her heels. Natasha sits down in the pilot chair and motions for Alex to sit down in the chair next to her.  
“You sure you don’t want to be using this?” Alex asks Natasha, raising an eyebrow and looking over at her mother.  
“I trust your aim; besides, you have no clue how to maneuver the plane,” Natasha replies, starting the plane up.   
“And you do?” Alex asks, looking out the window at the mass numbers of Dark Renegade members.  
“More than you,” Natasha says, keeping her eyes on the field in front of them. “When I say…”  
Natasha glances over at Alex, who looks over at her in turn.  
“…Push the red button,” Natasha finishes. Alex nods her head and Natasha focuses her attention back to the fight at hand. 

AVENGERS

Clint hears the plane start up and he whirls around and looks up at the plane behind him. He furrows his eyebrows, trying to figure out what Natasha and Alex are doing. The plane begins to rotate to face the large number of Dark Renegade members coming at them. Suddenly, a mechanical sound is heard and the massive guns on the plane descend from the bottom of the plane and Clint’s eyes grow big.  
“Guys, you’re going to want to get out of the way,” Clint says into the coms, looking over at the fight happening on the field. The Avengers’ team looks over, furrowing their own eyebrows at the tone in Barton’s voice; that is, until they see the guns pointing in their direction. Thor zooms out of range high into the sky. Hulk bounds to the side, quickly propelling himself out of the firing range. Tony flies through the sky, grabbing the Captain and quickly bring them to a safe location. Clint runs off to the side and turns around awaiting the attack.

AVENGERS

Natasha hits a button and Alex hears a mechanical sound, feeling something moving underneath them, knowing it’s the massive guns coming out of the bottom of the plane.   
“Guys, you’re going to want to get out of the way,” Clint’s voice is heard over the coms. Alex watches as the rest of the Avengers’ team quickly disperse, leaving only the Dark Renegade in their wake.   
“Now?” Alex asks, glancing over at Natasha, whose eyes stay on the field in front of them.  
“Now,” Natasha replies, nodding her head. Alex aims the guns and pushes the red button. Instantly, bullets are shooting into the field, men jolting and dropping like flies. Once she is sure they are safe, Alex takes the pressure of the button and the guns stop firing and all is quite. Natasha and Alex stare out the window, catching their breaths. Natasha gets up first and to her surprise, is engulfed in a hug from Alex. Getting over her surprise, Natasha returns the hug, a small smile playing on her lips. Alex pulls away and looks at Natasha.  
“Thanks, for coming after me,” Alex says, a shy smile of her lips. Natasha goes to say something but Clint’s voice interrupts her.  
“Alex! Nat!”  
Alexandra and Natasha turn to see Clint jog in to the cockpit, coming to a stop when he sees they are okay. Barton lets out a sigh of relief and sends the two of them a smile.  
“Remind me never to piss you two off,” he says jokingly causing Alex to chuckle. Alex walks over and gives Clint a hug, taking him off guard. Clint looks over at Natasha, his eyebrows raised and eyes wide in surprise. Natasha returns it with a small smile causing Clint to smile the same. Clint wraps his arms around Alex, giving her a squeeze before she pulls away. Clint notices the blood on her face from when the guy hit her and scowls. “We should get you cleaned up.”  
Alex gently prods her nose and cheek, making a face when she hits the sore spots. Nodding her head, Alex follows Natasha out in to the other room to wash her face and ice it. Clint takes a seat in the pilot chair and gets ready for take-off.


	7. Chapter 7

The Avengers and Alex walks into SHIELD and look around, seeing Coulson and Fury walking towards them. Alex hears footsteps running and she glances behind Coulson and Fury and sees Johnny turn the corner hastily and stop when he sees her. Alex grins at him which Johnny returns. Johnny jogs over to her and gives her a hug. Alex returns it, glad that he was here to greet her. Johnny pulls away and checks her over, seeing the bruised cheek and two black eyes. He scowls but then, it turns to a smirk and he raises an eyebrow.  
“I thought you were supposed to one of the best fighters?” he asks coyly. Alex huffs and smacks him in the arm, turning her attention to Fury and Coulson, not quite hiding the smirk on her face.   
“We’re glad to see everyone is okay,” Coulson says, taking in the Avengers’ team before him.   
“Did you get the Death Serpent?” Fury asks, looking to Barton and Romanoff. Natasha shakes her head.  
“No. We didn’t even see anyone there that seemed to be running the whole thing,” Natasha answers.  
“Which means he’s still out there,” Fury says in frustration.   
“And he’ll try to come after Alex again,” Barton adds, fixing Fury with a glare, making sure he understood the main reason them not catching him was a bad thing. Fury nods his head.   
“You need to debrief,” Fury says, nodding his head towards a hallway nearby. The team sighs in annoyance but nods their heads and begins walking in that direction. Fury glances over at Alex before following after the team.  
“Are you all right?” Coulson asks Alex, looking over at her and taking in her appearance. Alex gives him a smile.  
“Nothing I haven’t dealt with before,” she replies before walking past him towards her bedroom, Johnny following after her. 

AVENGERS

Johnny watches as Alex stands in the middle of her room, just looking at it. He leans up against the door, arms crossed, watching her for a moment longer before speaking up.  
“I know you haven’t been here in a while but it’s only been a few days,” Johnny says jokingly. Alex turns around and sighs.  
“It’s not that…” she says, glancing around her room again. Johnny waits a moment before speaking up.  
“What?” he asks, prodding her to continue her thought.  
“This place just doesn’t feel like home anymore,” she says, glancing over at him, pleading for him to understand what she is trying to get at. He does. SHIELD lied to her, prevented her from growing up without her parents.   
“So, what’s your next step?” Johnny asks, already having an idea.  
“I want to move in with my parents,” Alexandra says with finality in her tone, her mind set. Johnny smiles slightly.  
“Then, go talk to them,” he says. Alex looks over at him and nods her head. She takes a deep breath and walks back out of the room.

AVENGERS

Alex walks down the hall, seeing both her dad and mom walk out of separate room. They turn to begin walking down the hall, side by side, but stop when they see her. Alex approaches them and takes a deep breath.  
“Can we talk?” she asks nervously. Natasha and Clint nod their heads and lead her in to another unoccupied room, shutting the door behind them. Alex turns around to face them, gathering her courage up to continue; the last thing she needed to hear was them tell her no.  
“Everything all right?” Natasha asks, eyeing her carefully, knowing she’s nervous about something. Clint picks up on it as well.  
“Could…could I come back home with you? Like, for good?” Alex asks warily, eyeing her parents for any sign they’ll say no. Natasha and Clint share a look before looking back at her.  
“Of course,” Clint says, nodding his head. Natasha nods her head as well.  
“If that’s what you want,” Natasha adds herself.   
“It is,” Alex says, nodding her own head.  
“I’ll go talk to Coulson,” Barton says, disappearing back out in the hall. Natasha watches him leave before turning back to Alex.  
“Come on. I’ll help you pack,” she says, holding an arm out. Alex smiles and walks over to Natasha. Natasha wraps the arm around Alex’s shoulders and the two of them exit the room and head back down the hall towards Alex’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! Thanks to everyone who bore with me on this journey, read it, followed and favorite it, and reviewed on it! I appreciate the support!

**Author's Note:**

> Please review and let me know what you think of the start of this story! Would love to hear some feedback from you guys! Thanks for reading!  
> If you haven’t already, check out my other stories in my other fandoms: Supernatural, Leverage, and The Hobbit.


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